Pentagon Issues Male-Only Testosterone Guidance After Scrapping Its First Version

The Pentagon issued new, narrower testosterone-screening guidance for male troops Thursday, two weeks after abruptly pulling its first version.

The Defense Health Agency guideline leaves female service members out for now and makes clear that men 30 and older will not automatically receive a testosterone blood test. Instead, the Pentagon is requiring a symptom and risk-factor screening, with laboratory testing used to determine whether troops have a deficiency.

Men under 30 can also be screened if they request it or if a clinician sees a reason to evaluate them.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s original announcement did not distinguish between male and female troops. The Pentagon says separate guidance for female service members is still under review.

That is a notable change from the guidance the Pentagon published earlier this month and removed the next day. That version included separate pathways for men and women and called for mandatory testosterone blood tests for men 30 and older. The female pathway covered hormonal issues, low energy availability and menstrual problems.

The Pentagon said at the time that it had temporarily rescinded the document to make updates. Tim Parlatore, a senior adviser to Hegseth, later said the guidance had been posted “inadvertently” and needed more input to make sure it reflected current medical science.

Under the replacement, men 30 and older will first receive a structured assessment of symptoms and risk factors. A diagnosis requires symptoms consistent with low testosterone and low hormone levels measured on two separate days.

The guidance also tells clinicians to account for factors such as illness, severe sleep deprivation and extreme physical stress, which can temporarily lower testosterone levels.

Hegseth ordered the department in July to make testosterone screening mandatory during periodic health assessments for active-duty and reserve service members 30 and older, casting the effort as part of a broader push to improve health and military readiness.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Thursday that identifying and treating “suboptimal hormone levels” would help strengthen troops’ performance and maximize military readiness.

But the program drew questions from doctors and lawmakers over whether the Pentagon had shown a medical need to screen such a large population.

The Endocrine Society recommends against routine testosterone screening for men in the general population and says a diagnosis should be based on symptoms and repeatedly low testosterone levels.

A group of Senate Democrats also pressed Hegseth in July for the scientific basis of the policy, its cost, the testing protocols and evidence that screening or treatment would improve military readiness.